Time and Space
by Shax
Summary: Sonic and five others are kidnapped by a strange being


TIME AND SPACE 

Series 1 - The Origins   
Episode 1 

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A pre-warning from the author: I wrote series 1 a very long time ago (two years! Wow!), so please forgive me if the thirteen stories of this series are nowhere near as well written as the future series'. These fics are shorter, and have bad punctuation and may have cornier or holier plotlines. They do introduce a lot of future characters and concepts, however. 

Part One - The Desert 

CHAPTER ONE: SIX HEROES 

Sleepily, Sonic opened his eyes. He instantly knew that he wasn't in his own bed, so he tried to remember exactly what had happened. 

It was a normal spring day, and Sonic was running laps around Knothole. Every day he did this, to make sure his super speed remained super. He left the safety of Knothole, and started to make his way through the forest. Suddenly, he heard a strange whirring sound. He stopped running and tried to work out what it was. The whirring grew louder, and suddenly, Sonic was engulfed in a blinding red light. He tried to run, but found he was powerless to move. And he felt so sleepy. He struggled to keep his eyelids open, but they were heavier than lead. He closed his eyes, and everything went black. 

As this memory came back to him, Sonic shot up out of bed. He noticed he was in a strange chamber, lying on a high, metal bed, covered with a thin layer of foam on top. Looking around, he found that he was not alone in the strange room. There were six beds, all identical to his, set out in a circle, and on each one lay another person, and all were still unconcious. To the left of his bed, Sonic saw his little fox- friend Tails. Going clockwise around the circle of beds, he then saw his old ally, Knuckles the Echidna. Then he saw two others that he had never met. One was an oddly-coloured cat. He was a shade of purple, and one strange feature was his tail - all stiffened out with a kink in it, like a lightning bolt. To the left of him, was a yellow female porcupine, wearing some sort of lipstick. Next to her, Sonic saw a face he knew all too well. It was his old girlfriend, Amy. The pink hedgehog lay on the bed, asleep, like all the others. Memories came flooding back to Sonic, all at once, about the good times they used to share. He couldn't remember exactly why they split up, they just sort of went their own ways. 

Sonic stood there for about three minutes, when all of a sudden he snapped out of it and his attention returned to the strange place he was in, surrounded by friends and strangers. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." said Sonic to himself. It seemed to be a dome shaped room, with no doors, windows, or exits of any kind. Sonic couldn't work out how they could possibly have entered the strange building. "Sonic" he heard a voice say. He turned around and saw his friend Tails, looking at him sleepily. "Where are we?" Sonic could only reply by shrugging his shoulders. About five minutes later, Knuckles started to moan, as if he was having a nightmare. He opened his eyes a crack, then apparently realised he didn't know where he was, and instantly jumped ten feet into the air, landed on his feet beside the bed, brandishing the sharp, pointed knuckles on his fist, as if about to beat the crud out of the first one to move. When he saw Sonic and Tails, he relaxed his fist and walked over to them. "Sonic!" he said. "I haven't seen you in ages! Where the heck are we, anyway." Once again, Sonic answered with a shrug. "I don't know" he said. "I was just walking along, minding my buisness, when this red light came and..." That's what happened to me!" said Knuckles, butting in. "And me" added Tails. At that time, the two strangers woke up, almost simultaniously, and sat on the side of the bed. "Whe..where am I?" asked the yellow porcupine, dazed. The cat simply looked around, confused. "Who are you guys?" asked Sonic. The purple cat was the first to speak. "Um...I'm Streak." he said, continuing to examine the bizarre room. "If you must know, I'm Petals" said the other stranger, as she yawned, then spat onto the ground. At that moment, Amy shot up and let out a squeal, as if just waking from a nightmare. "Huh?" she said, staring at Sonic. "Sonic! What on Earth...?" she was interrupted by a booming voice that echoed through the room. "I AM DOMINATREK" it said. The room fell silent again, then the voice started again. "NOW THAT YOU ARE ALL AWAKE, YOU WOULD BE WONDERING WHAT YOU ARE DOING HERE I SHALL EXPLAIN..." Yes, that would be nice" said Sonic. "YOU ARE ALL HEROES IN YOUR OWN LAND" began the voice again. "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG AND MILES PROWER, TWO MEMBERS OF THE FAMOUS FREEDOM FIGHTER MOVEMENT. KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA, GUARDIAN AND CHAMPION OF THE FLOATING ISLAND. STREAK THE CAT, HEROIC MASTER OF ELECTRICITY. PETALS THE PORCUPINE, HEROINE OF THE ISLAND OF BIGAIL, AND AMY ROSE, LEADER OF ANOTHER, MORE NORTHERN CLAN OF FREEDOM FIGHTERS. YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN BY ME PERSONALLY AND TAKEN TO THIS PLANET AS THE BEST OF THE BEST ON THE PLANET OF MOBIUS, AND YOU WILL PERFORM A TEST TO CONFIRM THAT..." "Wait a minute" interrupted Sonic. "So you're saying we're gonna be lab rats?" "And why?" asked Knuckles. "ENOUGH TALKING" boomed the voice, louder than before, as if irritated. "ONWARD, YOU SHALL ENTER THE FIRST TEST" "Wait a minute, Mr. What's-his-name" began Streak. "You mean there is more than one test?" "SILENCE" said the voice. "How long is this going to take, anyway? asked Knux. "SILENCE!!!" screamed the voice, in anger. The room then filled with light, and Knux was thrown backwards, as if hit by a ball of force. Moaning, Knuckles got up and said "I don't think I like this guy." 

The room was then lit up once again, and when the light faded, there was a massive arched door on the side of the room. "ENTER" said the voice. The six were hesitant for a while, but finally walked obediantly out the door. 

CHAPTER TWO: THE TEST 

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Streak, Petals and Amy walked along an unfamiliar landscape. After they had stumbled outside the strange building, it had disappeared, and now they were alone in a hot, dry desert. "What the heck is this!?!" cried Knux, starting to totally lose it. "It seems to be some kind of survival test" replied their new ally, Streak. "Well" said Sonic. "We'll probably be here a long, long time, so we might as well get aquainted. I'm Sonic." Streak smiled. "Pleased to meet you, Sonic!" Sonic thought Streak to be quite a polite individual, but the other stranger, the yellow porcupine called Petals, was not as polite. "What the &*%&^$% heck are we doing here, anyway?!?" she yelled, before spitting in the sand. Sonic decided to continue speaking to Streak, instead. "When we were back in that building, before," he began, "That creepy voice mentioned something about 'Master of Electricity' or something." Streak grinned. "Oh yeah, I have super-powers!" Sonic looked at him funny. "It's true!" Streak insisted. "Watch!" he searched for anything that he could find that wasn't sand. Finally, he saw a small cactus-like plant. He held out his finger and seemed to be concentrating on something. Finally, his finger started to glow, and some kind of laser beam, or something, shot out of his fingertip, and completely scorched the plant in a shower of light and sparks. "WOW! Exclaimed Tails, looking on. "WAY PAST COOL!" Sonic, Knux and Amy simply stared, mouths wide open. "H--H--HO" said Sonic, trying to spit out the word "how". "I don't exactly know" replied Streak. "Just one day I was ordinary, the next, I was a super-powered super hero! I started using my new powers to help people, but I'd hardly consider myself a hero, like that voice said back in the building. I'm sure some of you guys have had a lot better adventures than I have." Petals snorted and spat again. "Big woop" she said, her head down studying the ground. 

Sonic decided, for some reason, to try and talk to the foul-mouthed porcupine. "So...." he began. Petals snorted. "What heroic deeds have you done?" "Petals looked at him coldly. "If you really wanna know, hedgehog, I'm an accidental hero, and I wish people would stop calling me one. I don't belong here, that 'Dominatrek' creep stuffed it up." "An accidental hero?" asked Sonic, confused. "I'm an expert at martial arts" explained Petals. "Once my island town was attacked by an army of Swatting Bots, or whatever the &*%&^$% you call them. They started to chase after me, so I blew up the whole flipping lot of them with my two bare hands. The whole town cheered me as their savior, when I was just trying to save my own skin, and nobody has let me forget it since, and they are all becoming a real pain in the backside, and so are you." "Well so-orry!" replied Sonic. It was at this time, that he noticed that his old friend Amy hadn't spoken to him, or even approached him since they re-met. It was as if she was avoiding him or something. "Oh, well, I can't talk" he thought to himself. "I haven't talked to her, either." So he went over to her in the hope of re-lighting the deep friendship they once shared. "Hey, Amy! I......" He didn't get any further before Amy turned quickly to Streak and said. "Umm...so...Streak! Can you show me those powers again?" Heartbroken and shocked, Sonic realised that, for some reason or another, Amy really was ignoring him on purpose. He sadly slowed his pace a little. 

It was at that moment that Knuckles' senses kicked in. In years of being the lone inhabitant and guardian of the Floating Island, Knux had taught himself many survival skills, and his senses were more sensitive than usual. And he knew they weren't alone. They were being stalked. "Stop!" He yelled to the team. They all stopped obediantly, and looked at the suspicious Knuckles. "Hear that?" he asked, quietly. "No" replied Sonic and Tails at the same time. Knux continued his suspicions. "We aren't alone in this desert" he said. "We're being stalked by something." Sonic also began to have the feeling of being watched. "But how is it possible?" he asked. "Look around! There is nothing but perfectly flat terrain for miles around! There isn't as much as a sand dune, but still, I can't see anything alive anywhere!" Knux noticed this, too, and became confused. "Well, let's move on - but with great caution" said Knux at last. Another half hour went by, and the team was starting to get tired. "How long are we gonna be walkin' Sonic?" asked Tails. "Just until we find our way out of this desert" Sonic replied. Petals became agitated, and snapped back at him. "NEWS FLASH, Hedgie-boy! That moron back at the building said we were on another planet! For all we know, this could be a desert planet, therefore, we're never gonna get out of it!" As rude as she was, Sonic realised that she had one heck of a point. "We were sent here to perform a test" he said, sitting on a leaned-over spikeless cactus. "I just wish Dominatrek had told us exactly what we were supposed to do." he looked depressed. "Great" said Petals, sarcastically, sitting on another spike-free cactus. "I've always wanted to die of thirst and starvation in a desert on another planet surrounded by a bunch of geeks and goody-two-shoes heroes. I feel blessed." She also looked depressed. "Wait!" said Knux, survival instincts flaring up again. "We're not going to starve! Look around! We're surrounded by food!" "Sonic looked up in anticipation, only to notice the usual miles and miles of sand, blocked by a few straggly cactus-things. "Knux, that's called a mirage. Get used to it." he said, head down again. "NO!" argued Knuckles. "Look harder! What do you see?" Petals replied to that. "Look, you stupid pink thing, get it through your thick head. We are in an empty desert, surrounded by some stupid plants. No food, we are as good as dead." She went back to sulking. Knuckles, surprised at everybody's ignorance started talking a little louder. "That's just it!" he said. "Look at those plants! They are together so densly, and they are so green, just like a mini rainforest! That means there's a lot of water nearby, and not only that, but those thick, fleshy plants are bound to be edible! And the dead plant limbs on the desert floor, they're so dry and old, they'll be perfect for firewood!" Knux was right. The others hadn't noticed it, but this desert wasn't nearly as death-defying as it seemed. You just had to know where to look. They made camp amongst the strange plants, and that night, they ate well. Knuckles' suspicions were right, and there was water nearby. A large lake, actually. And the cactus-things were edible, and quite tasty. They slept beneath the stars, before a roaring campfire, fed by the dead plants. "Knux" said Sonic, just before he dozed off. "yeah?" replied Knuckles, sleepily. "How do you do it?" said Sonic. Knux answered by grinning ear to ear, and drifted to sleep. 

CHAPTER THREE: BEASTIES 

The next morning, everybody ate a breakfast of the strange plants that, when roasted on the fire, taste a bit like boiled cabbage. They left the oasis refreshed, and ready to go on. The only problem was that they didn't know where they were to go, or what they were to do. 

Sonic began to worry about why Amy was trying to avoid him. They had been in the strange desert for a day, and Amy hadn't spoken to him. Actually, she didn't speak to anyone, really, she just tagged along. Sonic also noticed something strange about this planet, the days were a lot longer. They had been abducted by the strange "Dominatrek" character at late afternoon, and they had walked for about four hours, made camp at the oasis, then stayed there about another four hours before it got dark. And the desert didn't seem to be thinning out at all, either. Petals might have been right. This whole planet might be the desert. 

Just then, Knuckles had the sensations he had felt the previous day. Suspicious feelings, like they were being watched. Watched and followed. Knux stopped and looked around, sniffed the air, and slowly resumed walking. "What's wrong?" asked Sonic. Knuckles opened his mouth to answer, but a shadow fell over the group. They instantly knew they were in trouble. 

Well, that was for sure. The thing that caused the shadow was a giant grotesque creature, like nothing they had ever seen before. It was a faceless figure with numerous appendages, and was covered in a very thick layer of sand. It let out a groaning/wailing kind of sound, and leaped at Sonic. Luckily, he was not caught off-guard. He jumped up, landed in a spin dash, and sliced off one of the creature's "arms". It was then that they saw the weird thing about the beast. The appendage came straight off with no trouble, and it fell cleanly to the ground, no blood or anything like blood came out, in fact, nothing did. And when it hit the ground with a muffled thump, it shattered into literally millions of grains of sand. Sonic gasped. The beast wasn't covered in a layer of sand, after all. It WAS sand. The creature simply grew another sandy tentacle in it's place, and continued walking. 

What could they do except run for it? They ran as fast as their legs could take them, which was luckily faster than the monster. When the monster had gone out of sight, the group was way too tired to run further, so they stopped to take a breather, and then continued walking. "This is just like Sandopolis, on Floating Island, Sonic!" said Tails, catching his breath. "Yeah" replied Sonic, "But the bad guys there could be killed." This brought back memories to Knuckles of the Floating Island, and how he was supposed to be it's guardian. He knew that if their life enemy, the maniacal Dr. Ivo Robotnik, found out he was gone, he could have the Master Emerald, the Super Emeralds, AND the island without any trouble. He wished he hadn't been abducted so quickly, so he could have had the chance to ask the Chaotix, or anyone, for that matter, to look after it while he was away. Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails were thinking about how their friends in Knothole would be looking for them, especially Slasher. Everyone was miserable, homesick and bored, and everyone wanted to get their hands on the guy who sent them here so suddenly and against their will. The guy who called himself "Dominatrek". 

It didn't take long for the group to be attacked once again by sand monsters. But this time, it was an army. They emerged from the very sand itself, which explains how they can watch and follow the group without being seen. Sonic repeditively spin dashed the things, which seemed to have a small effect, and Streak was using his power of elecricity to zap them, which also had a small effect, but there were so many of them, and it had such a small effect, that they were almost certainly done for. The monsters closed in on them, and they closed their eyes, exausted from running, walking and fighting non stop all day. But then they heard a terrifying squeel, and a "HIIIIYA!" Sound. Sonic opened his eyes, and saw something he didn't believe. The small yellow porcupine, Petals, was using her martial arts skills against the beasts. And it was working. With each kick, the target monster would explode into a ton of sand, and wouldn't get up again. 

Eventually, Petals had kicked her way through every single monster. When she finished, she spat onto the sand, and muttered "creeps." Everyone stood there, speechless. Then Tails spoke up. "You saved us!" Petals looked really angry all of a sudden. "I didn't save you jerks! I was protecting myself! This is just like that time with me and the SWAT bots! I didn't have a single one of you in mind when I was kicking the stuffing out of those things, and I never will!" She looked away suddenly, as if upset. Sonic had the feeling once again of being watched. He jerked his head around, expecting to see a sand monster, but he saw Amy. She had been staring at him, but when she saw him turn towards her, she swung her head back around to face the front. Was she ignoring him, or was she afraid to approach him? 

CHAPTER FOUR: WILL IT NEVER END? 

Night fell again. This time the group wasn't lucky enough to find an oasis. They found a few straggly pieces of bark-like stuff, and made a crappy little campfire that went out after an hour. The next morning, everyone's muscles ached something chronic. Nobody could walk without limping, and Streak and Tails had migrane headaches. Nobody thought they could go any further. They were completely beat. Most of all, everyone wanted to go home. NOW. They stayed in the one spot for a while, to give their muscles more rest. They hadn't eaten or had a drink since breakfast the previous day. Suddenly a voice spoke up. It was the booming voice of the guy that got them into this mess in the first place. "YOU HAVE DONE WELL, YOU HAVE ALMOST COMPLETED YOUR TEST" Sonic looked agitated. "Listen, you jerk! Get us out of here now, or you will regret it for the rest of your life!" Dominatrek seemed to take this very humourously, and said "AND JUST WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?" Sonic started to reply, but stopped. The voice was right. It wasn't as if Sonic could just walk up to him and beat him up. After all, it was just a voice. The voice laughed a little, and then spoke again. "YOU ARE CLOSER THAN YOU THINK TO GOING HOME. JUST GO DUE NORTH UNTIL YOU COME TO THE RUINS. I SHALL BE WAITING." So they went north until they were attacked by another sand creature. Petals refused to help, so they were forced to kill it on their own. 

No-one was injured, except Knux, who took a nasty gash down his arm. Bones and muscles aching, they found their way to a place that looked like Stonehenge. Entering, they found a strange doorway filled with swirling colours. "That must be the way home!" said Streak, excited. They sat around, discussing the stupidity of this whole excercise, and how great it would be to get back. Suddenly, a ghostly figure appeared. It looked a bit like a man, but they couldn't really tell. "I AM DOMINATREK" it said. So now they knew what he looked like. But they didn't really feel too angry at him, for they were just too excited that they were going home. "CONGRATULATIONS!" said Dominatrek. "YOU HAVE SURVIVED TWO WHOLE DAYS ON THE PLANET OF THE SCORCHING SUN. YOU HAVE USED YOUR OUTDOOR SURVIVAL SKILLS AND ATTACK TACTICS WELL. THAT MEANS THAT THIS TEST IS OFFICIALLY OVER." "Ok, Domino" said Knuckles. "We're ready to go home now! Lead the way!" It was then that Dominatrek cracked up laughing. "DO YOU THINK THAT YOUR HOME IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS PORTAL? HA! IT MERELY TAKES YOU TO TEST TWO!" Knuckles' smile faded rapidly. "Wait a minute!" said Sonic. "You said we were going home!" "I MERELY SAID 'YOU ARE CLOSER THAN YOU THINK TO GOING HOME'! THAT DIDN'T MEAN THAT YOU GO BACK NOW!" The group started to complain, and Dominatrek's smile turned into a scowl. "YOU SHALL BE GOING BACK TO MOBIUS NOW" "Really?" asked Sonic, confused. "But you said...." "SILENCE!" Shouted Dominatrek. He held out his hand and shot a ball of force at Sonic, throwing him back. "YOU DIDN'T LET ME FINISH! I SAID YOU SHALL BE GOING BACK, BUT IT WON'T BE THE MOBIUS YOU KNOW. YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER THE ANTI-VERSE." Before anyone could ask what that meant, they all began to leviate above the sand, and were thrown into the portal. Little did the group know that the "Planet of the Scorching Sun" would be like falling off a log compared to the Anti-verse, and the horrors it had in store. 

Part two - The Anti-Verse 

CHAPTER FIVE: THE KNOTHOLE HELL-HOLE 

"State-name-and-business" 

"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" 

"state-name-and-business" 

"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" 

-[DOINK!]- OUCH! 

"State-name-and-business" 

Sonic woke up, after being poked several times by a SWAT bot. He sat up, dazed. State-name-and-business" said the bot, repetitively poking him in the arm with a stick. He remembered the dream he had. He had dreamed that him, Tails, Knuckles, his old girlfriend Amy, and two strangers, one a purple cat with super powers and the other a foul- mouthed yellow porcupine karate expert had been teleported to a desert planet as a test by some supernatural wizard from beyond. He giggled to himself. "OK, no chilli dogs for me today!" It had obviously been a dream, for he was now lying down in amongst the trees in the Great Forest. He wondered why he fell asleep during his afternoon exercise. He decided to find his way back to Knothole. Funny, he didn't seem to recognize the section of forest he was in. He stood up. "State-name-and-business" said the SWAT bot. Sonic had forgotten about him. "You-are-in-robot-territory" said the bot. Sonic giggled and pushed the bot over backwards. "Dream on, Ro-BUTT-nik!" said Sonic. "Knothole will never belong to you!" he did a spin-dash and obliterated the robot. He then walked off in search of Knothole Village. 

"I can't understand it!" he said to himself. "Knothole is nowhere in sight, and I can't find one place in this darn forest that I recognize!" He had been walking for an hour, and even though he knew more about the forest than the trees did, he was hopelessly lost. He then heard a scream, and a lot of laser-blasting. He ran in search of the sound, and saw a team of Ultra-SWAT bots fighting Knuckles. At least he thought it was Knux, except he looked older. Maybe in his twenties. Sonic knew this was impossible, though. When Knux had finished fighting the U-SWATs, he ran for the bushes before another army found him. He then ran smack into Sonic. When he got up and looked at Sonic, his mouth dropped open and he turned pale. "Hi Knux! What's up?" asked Sonic. Knuckles simply looked at him strangely. "S....SONIC?!?" he said, alarmed. "Uh huh" replied Sonic, confused. "B...B..But, you mean you're ALIVE?" asked Knux. "It beats the alternative" replied Sonic, thinking it was all a joke. Knuckles started smiling. "How did you do it?" he asked. Sonic looked very confused. He was starting to see the seriousness in Knuckles' eyes. "What's gotten into you?" he asked. "I'm just so happy to see you after seven years of thinking you were dead!" replied Knux. "What are you talking about?" asked Sonic. "I saw you only last year when we defeated Robotnik on the floating island!" Knux looked at him blankly. "Anyway, I'm lost, can you direct me back to Knothole? I guess that's where you're going." Knux looked at Sonic as if he was crazy. "Did you get amnesia when you were away?" "No, why?" asked Sonic. "Because" said Knux, frightfully. "Knothole and the Great Forest were completely destroyed in the robot raid ten years ago!" 

CHAPTER SIX: DIMENSIONS 

"Are you nuts?" asked Sonic, getting agitated. "We are standing in the great forest! Look at all the trees!" "Metal" replied Knux. "They are all just made of metal. Go ahead and tap on them." Sonic went and tapped his knuckles on the trunk of a tree. It made a hollow clanging sound. Still not believing it, he went up to every tree he could see. Every single plant was stainless steel. Then he ran. He had to go a long way away from that place. He had to think. He came to a clearing in the metal forest, only to see a sight that caused his breath to catch in his throat. He saw what looked a little like Robotropolis, except it was much bigger. Say, as far as the eye could see. It spanned from the base of the hill to the horizon, and probably beyond. In the sky were several ships that looked like Robotnik's Death Egg, but without the impression of Robotnik's face on the front. Robots were everywhere, and most of them were bigger than U-SWATs. And in the middle was a huge building, no, more like a castle, no, more like a fortress, made from iron with revolving windows, and elevators, and strange pump-like things. This was all too much for Sonic to handle. How could Robotnik take over the entire of Mobius in one night? It was impossible, yet there it was. Suddenly, someone came out of the bushes beside him. He l looked, and there was Tails. "TAILS" Sonic cried to his friend. "WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED HERE?" Before Tails could answer, the bush shook again, and out came Knux. Then Sonic was very surprised to see the two strangers from his dream emerge as well, and then came Amy. "Sonic" said Knux. "Don't worry, it isn't our home. It's the Anti-Verse." 

Suddenly, it all started to make sense. Sonic had thought the dream had seemed a little too real. He wasn't dreaming, he and the group really had been teleported somewhere else by the strange Dominatrek character. The question was, where? "Where did that guy send us?" asked Sonic. Streak the Cat spoke up to answer his question. "We think Dominatrek sent us to some sort of parallel universe - the Anti-Verse. He said something about us going back to Mobius, but it not being the Mobius we know. So, we think that this universe was once like ours, except that somewhere, history took a wrong turn, and everything ended up like this." "History sure made one heck of a wrong turn!" said Sonic, gazing at the new Robotropolis City. "Well, what are we supposed to do here?" asked Tails. "I met the Knuckles from this universe!" answered Sonic, remembering the slightly older Knuckles he met earlier. "We could talk to him!" The group agreed, and Sonic led the way to where he met the other Knux. 

"WOW!" yelled Knuckles, when he heard their story. He hadn't believed them for a second, until the other Knux showed up, then how could he not believe. "By the way" said Sonic to the older Knuckles. "Mind if we call you something different from our Knuckles? Just so you know who we are talking to." "Yeah" said the younger Knuckles. "This is the Anti-Verse, so why not call him 'Anti-Knux'?" "Ok" replied Anti-Knux. "Just so I know who you are referring to when you say 'Knuckles'. So, what do you think you guys are supposed to do here?" "I guess we just have to beat Robotnik." replied Sonic. "Could be hard, when he already controls the planet." Anti-Knux looked at Sonic strangely. "Who's Robotnik?" he asked. "Oh, you know" replied Sonic. "Big fat guy that controls most of Mobius." Anti-Knux thought about it a while, then said "Oh! Dr. Robotnik! No, he died long ago." Sonic gasped. "Well, who did all this then?" Anti-Knux looked down at an apple he was chewing on. "That robot" he said. "Mecha Sonic." 

CHAPTER SEVEN: REIGN OF MECHA SONIC 

Anti-Knux explained the situation. "You see, Robotnik's biggest mistake was upgrading Mecha to the ultimate supreme robot ten years ago. M.S. became so powerful, that he was much more powerful than Robotnik himself. Worse still, he also became incredibly power hungry. He secretly programmed all the SWAT bots to be loyal to him, and one day, Robotropolis revolted. Robotnik disappeared, probably killed by Mecha, and the robot wasted no time in taking over his throne, and taking Mobius. And, oh, the poor Freedom Fighters. Knothole was the very first place Mecha attacked, and the Freedom Fighters were held in prison. I escaped, but I was unable to help them. I feel so guilty about it!" Anti-Knux started to sob, and Sonic comforted him. He continued, "You, Sonic, you were the first to go. Mecha always hated you, 'cause you were the original blueprint for him, and he didn't want to be simply a clone. So he personally executed you as a sign of his power. Then Tails and the other Freedom Fighters were taken and robotized. After that, there was a huge robot raid I call the iron war. Nobody on Mobius was any match for Mecha and his robots. Everyone was taken and robotized. I am the only creature on Mobius that is actually living. Everything else that moves is a cold, steel robot. So, in a nutshell, Mobius is a wreck, Mecha gets much more powerful all the time, and it won't be long until I share the fate of everyone else." 

Even though this wasn't his universe, Sonic felt a certain amount of anger about what Mecha Sonic did to Mobius. He also felt some fear about the fact that Anti-Knux mentioned the fantastic power of Mecha. After all, he had always been a powerful rival, but now, he might be too much. Well, it seems that this was Dominatrek's plan. The strange being had sent them to this particular universe for some reason, and he knew who Sonic was, perhaps he also knew Sonic's fear of his arch-nemesis. Maybe that was the whole point of this "test". Sonic thought that Dominatrek was probably sitting back somewhere having a good laugh at his expense. And Sonic couldn't very well not go through with it, because it was the only way him and his friends could go home. "Well..." he said, shakily, "Let's go". 

It didn't take long for the worst possible thing to happen. They made a couple of mistakes, and a couple of alarms went off, and a giant robot gently escorted them to a flea-ridden dungeon. Because there weren't any living organisms left on the planet, the dungeon was more like a scrap heap. Sonic and the group weren't seen as criminals, but rather, as obsolete robots who had gone haywire, causing them to be in a forbidden area of Robotropolis. The dungeons were small, and only two were put in each one. Tails was put in with Knux, Streak with Petals and Sonic with Amy. "Now what, genius?" Petals asked Sonic sarcastically from the next door cell. She spat onto the concrete floor, then turned to Streak. "What are you waiting for, Superman? Turn on the sparks and fry these bars so we can get outta here and get on with our lives!" Streak shook his head sadly. These bars are made from a very, very strong metal. A dip in a lava pool couldn't melt them. He slid down the wall into a sitting position and played with a small stone in his hand. 

Sonic decided to take this time to work things out with Amy. She had ignored him for a long time, now he had enough free time to find out why. "So...um...Amy.." he began. "Save your breath" Amy replied. Well, at least she said something for a change. "What's wrong?" he asked her. "You" she snapped back. "C'mon! What did I do wrong?" "You know" she said. "When you were just a normal hedgehog, we were best friends. But then, you discovered your super speed and you were all like 'HEY! LOOK AT ME!' and everybody thought you were so cool, and you joined the Freedom Fighters, and you got so many friends that you couldn't count them.." she began to sob. "So that's why I took off! I joined another band of Freedom Fighters, and I became a hero, too!" she said tearfully. "C'mon, Amy! I didn't forget you!" said Sonic. "As a matter of fact, my life hasn't been the same since you left! And to be honest, this hero stuff is getting a tad boring. Believe me, Amy, there is a difference between fans and friends, and amongst all the fans I have, I have very few true friends, and I still have a place in my heart for you. So whaddaya say? Friends?" Amy stopped crying and smiled slightly. "I'll think about it" she said. 

Suddenly, Sonic saw something that made his heart skip a beat. A very familiar shadow passed over the wall. Slasher! But, as the creature came into view, he noticed it had no wings, and looked slightly different than Slasher, but it was still a velociraptor. Sonic felt a bit disappointed, but he was still interested. The raptor shoved one fingernail in each lock, which acted as a lockpick. "Hurry!" he said, then ran off. Sonic tried to follow him, but he was long gone. "What was that about?" asked Streak, confused. "Dunno" said Sonic "But I'm starting to get used to dinosaurs helping me out!" They walked down the corridor, and came to a flight of stairs. It went up a long, long, long way. Eventually, they came out a side door in the huge fortress Sonic saw earlier. 

They decided to face Mecha Sonic, so they found the main door into the building. It was a huge golden archway, and it led to a huge throne room. It was like a medieval castle, except for one thing - it was completely robotized. To the left, there was a long orderly line of robots, who seemed to be signing off on some identity machine. At the back of the room, there was a huge machine like a master computer. And there, sitting in front of it, asleep on a throne, was none other than Mecha Sonic. Except, here, he was a little bigger. Okay, he was totally huge. The steel spikes on his back were longer, sharper, and had little barbs on them. Two huge guard robots stood either side of him, but made no attempt to stop the group when they approached. Sonic decided to defeat Mecha without waking him up. He looked pretty mean, even meaner than usual, and that is really saying something. Sonic got everyone in a bundle, and whispered the plan. "Okay, to get this guy, we'll all have to pitch in. Streak, you hit him with an electricity bolt, and I'll finish him off with a spin dash. Knux and Petals, you are the best fighters, so you attack him if he wakes up. Tails, it's too dangerous for you, lil' bud, you just go hide somewhere." Tails took one look at the menacing face of the robot hedgehog, and immediately agreed, pretending to be disappointed. Unfortunately, they were all huddled together and none of them saw Mecha Sonic's red eyes all of a sudden light up. Nobody saw the master computer go on-line. Nobody saw Mecha look towards them, and nobody saw the twisted expression on his cold, metal face as he saw them standing there. 

CHAPTER EIGHT: IRON BATTLE 

"S..S..S..SSSSSSONIC!!!" came the hissing wail from the throne where Mecha Sonic sat. The group instantly jerked their heads around to face him. "Oh oh" said Sonic, eyes not shifting from Mecha. Mecha was obviously utterly furious at the sight of his nemesis. "BUT YOU DIED!" he screeched in a surprisingly high voice. "I KILLED YOU PERSONALLY! I SAW YOU DIE!" Sonic grinned. "Well, I'm not the Sonic you killed! I'm from another dimension, and I've come to kick your shiny stainless steel butt!" Mecha obviously had no idea what Sonic was talking about, so he seemed to disregard what he just said. "No matter!" Mecha said, more calmly. "I have grown much more powerful since you last met me." Even though he didn't have the ability to smile, you could just about see him grinning. "See this?" asked Mecha, pointing to the giant machine that took up the entire northern wall. "How can we miss it?" Sonic whispered to no- one in particular. "This is my brain!" continued Mecha. "I am inside this machine! All I have to do is beam my complex thought patterns to the robot you see before you! I have changed, S..Son..Hedgehog, and I am meaner than anything you could ever imagine!" Sonic didn't like the way Mecha said that. All of a sudden, Mecha curled into a ball and shot off like a ten foot circular saw. Sonic and the others barely got out of the way in time. Streak concentrated all his energy and set off a blast of electricity in Mecha's direction. Mecha stopped for a second, said "Repairing damage, please wait --------done" and attacked again. Sonic did a spin dash and bounced off Mecha like a ping pong ball. All Knux got was a deep gash on his arm by one of the robot's spiked hands. Petals got kicked in the head, and all Tails and Amy could do was stand back and watch their friends get horribly beaten up. What could they do? Amy had only ever fought SWAT bots before - she didn't even know where to begin with Mecha. And, as for Tails, the only special ability he had was to fly, and what good would that do? Suddenly, as Sonic was evading Mecha's plasma blasts, Tails had an idea. He remembered what Mecha had said before - "I am inside this machine". He realized that the four were going about it the wrong way. They were attacking the robot, when the real Mecha was inside the giant machine. He started twirling his tails like a helicopter rotor. "Tails! What are you doing?" screamed Amy, grabbing for him. She was too late. Tails was flying towards the giant machine. Mecha was too busy fighting Sonic, Knux, Streak and Petals to notice Tails. Suddenly, Amy realized what Tails was thinking, and a grin spread across her face. But then, Mecha had Sonic cornered. He chuckled, and you could swear a wide smile took over his lifeless face, as he balled up his heavy fist and slammed Sonic like a Mack Truck. 

Tails started pulling out all the wiring he could see. Mecha leaned over the unconscious Sonic, ready to deal the fatal blow. But he was strangely hesitant. Then everyone knew why. Mecha looked up and said "Right limb is no longer active. Fatal error in main computer" That was followed by a shrill "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" and then by a cry of rage when he saw the little fox removing the wiring from the machine. With one arm dangling lifelessly beside him, Mecha raised his left arm and a little missile popped out. He was aiming for Tails, in front of the massive computer. As he was getting his aim perfect, Knuckles jumped into the air and did a glide towards Tails, snatching him away just in time. Mecha set off the missile just as Tails was grabbed and carried to safety. The small explosive smacked into the giant computer, causing a massive hole in the middle. "Fatal error - systems shutting down" said Mecha, just before landing face first with a CLANG! Almost simultaneously, all the other robots in the room stopped functioning. They had won, but Sonic was still unconscious. He opened one eye and croaked "Tails-you--saved-me-buddy!" just then, the walls seemed to melt and everything swirled around. They once again heard the voice of Dominatrek. "WELL DONE, YOU HAVE COME FURTHER THAN I EXPECTED." "Sonic's hurt!" yelled Knuckles, not knowing where to look for the being. Dominatrek appeared in front of them. "SONIC WILL BE ALL RIGHT" he said. "Can we go home, now?" yelled Streak, as if thinking the being was hard of hearing. "NO, NOW YOU SHALL ENTER TEST THREE" There was silence for a second, then Knux went hysterical. "WHAT THE HECK DO YOU MEAN, D*** IT!?! HOW MUCH LONGER ARE YOU GOING TO TELEPORT US AROUND THE UNIVERSE, BETWEEN PARALLEL DIMENSIONS AND SO FORTH, JUST FOR YOUR AMUSEMENT!?!" "SILENCE!" shouted Dominatrek "I WILL NOT BE SILENT!" argued Knux. Dominatrek held out his hand and blasted Knux with something much more forceful than he did before. Knuckles was knocked to the ground. "YOU SHALL ENTER THE IMPOSSIBLE TEMPLE OF GHIL-SHA" he said, grinning. He raised his hands above his head and clapped them twice, and everything went dark. 

Part Three - Impossible Temple 

CHAPTER NINE: DARKNESS 

"Ouch!" yelped Sonic, bumping his head on something hard. He had just woken up, and everything in the small room was pitch black. The air was moist and dense, and the air smelled like it had been just sitting there for a hundred years. He heard a groaning voice from elsewhere in the room, "Oooh, where are we now?" and he recognized it as Knuckles' voice. 

He remembered everything, being warped through the galaxy to the Planet of the Scorching Sun, being transported into a parallel universe, the Anti-Verse, right through to being teleported to this damp, dark room. He woke up as if the entire journey had been a dream, but he knew better of it. The last time he had believed it to be a dream, it had been in the Anti-Verse, and it was more like a nightmare made real. Besides, it had obviously been real, because he had woken up in this strange place, and he could hear the voices of Tails, Knux, Streak, Petals and Amy, all trying to figure out where they were. This expedition had been one strange thing after another, and nobody could figure out what the purpose was. Little did they know of Dominatrek's ulterior motive. The reason all this was being set up for them. But more about that later... 

"Eh, anyone got a match?" Sonic asked his invisible allies. "Right here" answered Streak's voice. There was silence for a few seconds, then the sound of frustration. "I thought I could light up the place with a spark of electricity" said Streak, "But I can't seem to get it to work just now." Suddenly, there was a crackling sound, and the room filled with a luminous light. "No matter" said Sonic. "Well" said Petals, frustrated expression on her face. "Where the *&%^%* heck you think we are now?" Sonic looked at her. "I'd hate to see the guy who thought you were delicate enough to call 'petals'." he said. Knux looked around. "It looks like the Sandopolean Pyramid, back on my island, except for the fact that it's probably more ancient, and a lot bigger." Sonic stared at the walls of the mysterious old building. "I heard that Dominatrek guy talking about some 'Impossible Temple of Ghil- something-or-other'." he said. "I don't think I like the way the word 'impossible' is used." mumbled Knux, under his breath. 

Their attention turned to the light that had so suddenly filled the room. There didn't seem to be any particular source to the light, it was just a light, suspended evenly in the room. "Creepy!" said Tails. As they walked down a corridor, they came to a blockage made from small, loose stones. Knux grinned. "I'll take care of this" he said, pulling his fist back. He slammed his hand, knuckles first onto the pile of rocks. At that moment, Knux's grin faded to a bizarre mouth shape. A small droplet of water appeared on his bottom eyelid, and a strange noise escaped his throat. He had tried to get a knuckle hold, to rapidly dig away the rock pile, but somehow, it had failed. He pulled back his clenched fist, to reveal a tear in the front of his glove, a narrow flow of blood slowly trickled out of it. Almost instantly, Knux realized why his attempt at digging had failed. His hand was bare. The two sharp, pointed knuckles that had once poked out of his hand had vanished utterly. He quickly checked his other hand. Like the other, the knuckles were not there, as if vanished into thin air. 

CHAPTER TEN: POWERLESS 

"What the heck are you all staring at?" asked Petals, bossily. "What is wrong with the stupid echidna?" "My knuckles are gone" replied Knux, scowling at her. "Maybe you dropped them or somethin', I dunno, who cares?" said Petals. Knux just stood and stared at her. "oh, look" said Petals, rolling her eyes. She walked up to the stone wall in an attempt to kick it down. When she swung her leg at the wall, there was a cracking sound, and she let out a squeal and fell onto the ground, her face twisted in pain. "I---pulled---a---muscle" she gasped. "Wait a minute" said Sonic, thinking. "I think that Dominatrek jerk took away our powers!" "Huh?" asked Streak. "Well," replied Sonic, "When you tried to use your electricity, it failed, right?" Streak nodded his head. "And Knux's sharp knuckles are gone, and when Petals tried to use her martial arts skills, she badly pulled a muscle." Streak started to see what he meant. "Sonic!" shouted Tails. "I'm missing a tail! I only have one!" Sonic looked down at his friend's single tail. "Well, now I'm certain" he said. 

"Well, I don't have any powers to lose" Amy spoke up. "But what are you missing, Sonic?" Sonic thought about it. "Probably my spin-dash" he said. "That's just about the only special power I have." he curled into a ball, and as he was about to spin-dash, he fell flat on his face. Everyone (except Petals) laughed. "Ohh" moaned Sonic. "That's it all right." Then Streak spotted a strange panel next to the pile of rocks. The panel had a picture of the sun, with sixteen little points on it, and the top point was longer. Around the sun, there were four little moons. "What the heck?" said Streak. Everyone turned to the panel. "Some kind of lock?" asked Knux. Amy pushed through the crowd made by the other five. "It's an ancient puzzle lock" she said. "It's called that because to unlock it, you have to solve a puzzle." Everyone listened closely, even though they would have already known that. Amy looked at the lock with great interest. Then she smiled and put her finger on one of the points on the star. The point lit up and a small sound came from the wall, like the sound of a small lock opening. Amy smiled wider and began touching every fourth point, each one lighting up and making a sound. As soon as four points had lit up, there was a huge noise as the stone wall crumbled. 

Amy giggled with satisfaction, and the others simply stared. "That was a fairly easy one" she said. "Most of them are said to be almost impossible." The others continued to stare at her. "Whassamatter?" she asked. "Don't like being beaten by a girl?" 

Nobody answered, they just walked down the corridor further. There was a rumbling sound in the distance. "What was that?" asked Tails, a little frightened. "I dunno" replied Sonic, still thinking about the strange temple they had been put in. The group walked into a very wide, open room. There was a closed door on the other side, with another strange puzzle on it. As soon as they entered the room, the doorway behind them crumbled, leaving a pile of old brown rocks in it's place. "WOW!!!" yelled Tails, looking up. The roof was so high it was literally out of sight. He stared up at the infinite darkness above. "I'd hate to fall from up there!" said Sonic, also staring upward. "Well, let's see this next puzzle" said Amy. There was a huge bang as Amy walked towards the closed door. There was silence for a little while, and Amy turned towards the others. They were still in the center of the room, staring hypnotically into the void above. Then Sonic spoke up, his gaze not shifting from the sky. "Uhm, Amy, could you hurry it up a bit on that puzzle?" He sounded nervous. "Why, what's wrong?" asked Amy. Sonic simply pointed upwards. Everyone was still staring at the roof, now white as a sheet. Amy looked upwards and gasped. The roof was now in sight. It was covered in small spikes, and it was falling fast. Falling to crush them into hero pancakes. 

CHAPTER ELEVEN: PUZZLES GALORE 

Amy let out a screech of terror and immediately got to work on the puzzle. She let out a whoosh of air when she realized it was another math puzzle. Thinking quickly, she pushed a couple of buttons and the door made a satisfied click and swung open. Everyone zoomed out the door, just as the roof hit the ground. "That was a little TOO close" said Sonic, panting. "Yeah" replied Amy. "I seem to have a knack for these things." 

They walked for about five minutes, just down a long, twisting corridor. Amy seemed to be thinking about something. At last she said, "He's setting us up for something." Sonic looked at her. "Who?" he asked. "Dominatrek." she replied. "Why? What's he setting us up for?" asked Sonic again. Amy looked up at him. "He's very clever. He's testing our warrior skills. The first place he sent us was to the desert, then to a robot-ridden planet, then to a puzzle temple. He tested our survival skills in a hostile environment, he tested our fighting skills on a planet full of evil, and now he has taken away our special powers and sent us to a place where we have to survive using nothing but our brains. Surviving, fighting and thinking." Sonic realized exactly what she meant. "You're right!" he said. "It's as if he wants us to win a war for him or something." They continued down the corridor until they found another locked door and another puzzle. Amy opened it with ease, and they gasped as they saw the other side of it. There was just an abyss. A bottomless pit with a few stepping stones going across. "OK," said Sonic. "Nobody panic, just take it slowly." Then Knux did a really bad mistake. He climbed up the wall behind them, and jumped to glide across the chasm. He had forgotten that everybody's powers had been removed, and he glided for about two seconds before the glide turned into a dive. Everyone gasped as Knux uncontrollably took a vertical dive into the dark pit. 

Knuckles let out a whoosh of air as he grabbed one of the tall stepping stones with the tips of his fingers. He swung around for a bit, then grabbed the platform with his other hand and pulled himself up. When he was safely on the platform, he caught his breath and muttered, "Note to self: stop doing that." Everybody else got over the shock and started balancing across the narrow paths and stones. Sonic turned to Amy. "I thought this temple was strictly an intelligence test! What's with the pit?" Amy shrugged. "I guess Dominatrek just threw this in for something to do." Except for a few wobbles, the group passed the pit without incident. They were faced with another few puzzle doors, then they came to a giant, square room with a puzzle on one of the walls. Once again, the door they came through crumbled behind them. "I sure hope the roof doesn't move in this room" said Streak. 

He was right, the roof didn't move in to crush them. This time the walls did. "Oh cr**!" yelled Knux. Amy ran over to the puzzle and started working on it. "Oh oh, this one's hard" she said, worrying. The walls moved faster inward. This time, Amy wasn't so quick. Everyone ran over to help her try to solve the puzzle, but it was way over their heads. "This must be the 'impossible' bit" said Sonic, frantically. They didn't have to worry about the puzzle for long, the panel and the door were crushed by the incoming wall. No way out. Everyone was speechless. This would be where it all ended. 

CHAPTER TWELVE: THE GREAT ESCAPE 

It was about ten seconds before they would be crushed. The strange, frantic, scratching sound from behind the small scrap of wall left. Suddenly, something burst through and screamed "RUN!!!" Everyone obeyed without question. They escaped through the hole just before the walls slammed shut. "Now that was WAY too close" said Sonic. They stared at the creature who had freed them. It was a raptor, the same one who had freed them from the cages in the Anti-Verse. "Who are you?" asked Sonic. "No time to explain" replied the lizard. "You are nearly out, all you have to do is go down this way" he pointed down a path. "And whatever you do, SURVIVE!" Just at that moment, the raptor disappeared before their eyes. "Ok, well, let's go!" said Sonic. 

They walked down the path for about ten minutes, it was a very long, downhill slope. Tails heard a bump further back behind them, but thought it was nothing important. Boy, was he wrong. They walked a couple of meters further, then stopped as they heard a rumbling sound. They looked behind them, and saw a giant boulder rolling towards them. "What's this?" yelled Sonic, "Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom?" Knux stared at the incoming boulder. "We'll be Indiana BONES if we don't run right this second!" he screamed. Everyone ran as fast as they could. Sonic was confident that his super speed could take him to safety. Unfortunately, he didn't think that super speed might come under the "special power" category, and it wouldn't work so well. He sent his feet spinning, then he pulled a muscle and fell flat on his face. "Oh oh" he muttered. Would he get up in time? 

He was going to be run over by the giant rock. Luckily, one split second before he was squished, he noticed a slight cave in the wall beside him. He did a barrel roll and landed in the crevice just as the boulder speeded past him. "That was WAY, WAY, too close!" he said, panting uncontrollably. He emerged from the cave in time to see his friends run up to him. "How are you?" asked Knux, worried. Sonic grunted as he picked himself up. "Way past cool." he said, without expression. The group, eager to escape before anything else happened, ran down the path. The path eventually became a lot wider, which was how the other five had escaped the boulder. They came to a cliff with a narrow path around the outside. "This stupid temple has too many d*** bottomless pits!" said Petals, spitting off the edge of the cliff. The group started to tiptoe their way across the narrow path to the other side. While they were about halfway across, there was a sudden jolt, like a small earthquake. Everyone was able to quickly hold onto the rocky outcrops on the cliff face and avoid a nasty accident. Everyone except Amy, who lost her balance and fell over the edge. 

Sonic instinctively threw himself off the cliff and grabbed onto her hands. He only held onto the top of the cliff by his toes. "Eh...a little help?" he asked his friends on the cliff, who were amazed by the quick rescue. Knux and Streak ran up and grabbed onto Sonic's feet and pulled him and Amy up. Amy, still shocked from the fall, turned to face Sonic. "Sonic, you know how before, you asked if we could be friends, and I said I'd think about it?" she asked him. "Yeah" replied Sonic. "Well, I'd like to be friends, now!" she said, hugging him. They got on with crossing the narrow bridge, this time holding tighter onto the wall, in case there was another jolt. They got to the other side and found a huge door, with a small panel beside it. Another puzzle. It didn't take too long for Amy to work it out, and the door swung open, revealing that they were outside! It turned out to be the middle of a dense jungle, in the center of some ruined ancient city, like the Aztecs. "Well, now what?" asked Sonic. Suddenly, everyone felt a huge jolt of electricity, and Dominatrek appeared. Sonic looked at him angrily. "THAT WAS THE WORST PLACE YET, YOU JERK! WE WERE NEARLY KILLED SEVERAL TIMES!" Dominatrek just looked at him with a blank face. "YOU HAVE ALL DONE WELL" he boomed. "YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE THREE TESTS, AND PASSED ALL OF THEM. NOW, YOU SHALL BE TELEPORTED SOMEWHERE THAT IS NOT A TEST. THIS IS REAL. THIS IS WAR." Everyone started to talk at once, but another, more violent jolt ripped through them. They were torn away from each other, and flung into a place full of swirling colors. There was suddenly no gravity as they floated to a location that would be a mystery... 

Part Four: Galactic War 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: ODD COMMANDOS 

Sonic shot up yelling, as if just woken from a nightmare. He looked around. He was out in the open, at night, on the stone hard ground. It looked creepy, like something out of a horror movie. There were old, twisted, leafless trees, and nothing made a single sound. Sonic half expected to be attacked by Dracula any moment now. He remembered the weird Dominatrek character, and how he had said the tests were all over, and that this was war. He looked around for his friends. Sure enough, squinting in the moonlight, he made out the shapes of Tails, Knuckles, Streak, Petals and Amy, just waking up. "Where are we now?" asked Knux. "Dunno" replied Sonic. "Have you got your knuckles back?" Knux looked down at his hands. "Sure do!" he replied happily, staring at the two sharp knuckles on each hand. Suddenly, they saw what looked like a laser beam shoot right at them. They saw an army of strange, creepy humanoid life forms dressed heavily in armor come towards them. Sonic opened his mouth to speak, but the "leader" of the creatures held out a gun and shot him square in the head. He fell over backwards. Then the others quickly backed off, but they were also shot. The six heroes one by one fell limply to the ground. 

Sonic woke up, moaning. He had a headache the size of Mobius. He looked around and saw he was in a large jail cell with all the others. He moaned. "Must have been a stun-gun" he said to himself. The others looked at him. "He's awake" said Tails, holding his head. He must have had a headache, too. They heard footsteps coming their way. One of the strange creatures appeared in front of their cell. "Sorry about that stun-gun thing" he said. "Can't be too careful, y'know." Sonic just stared, holding his head as if to make sure the creature knew he had a splitting migraine. "Your record shows that you have no criminal record" said the creature "In fact you don't seem to have any record at all. Just give me your names and I'll write some out." "Um, excuse me" began Knux "but we will be gone very soon and you'll never see us again, so we won't be needing any records." The creature looked up from his notepad. "I'm sorry" he said "Every intelligent creature on Nobex 8 must have a permanent record." "Nobex 8?" asked Sonic. "Is that where we are?" "Indeed" replied the creature. "Now, names please!" The group didn't know what else to do, so they gave their names. "Sonic the Hedgehog" said Sonic. "Tails Prower" said Tails. (Even though his real name was Miles, but he liked "Tails" a whole lot better.) "Knuckles the Echidna" "Streak the Cat" "Petals the Porcupine" "Amy Rose" said the others. "Excellent!" said the creature. "Oh, and one more thing. Your brain scans failed to reveal if you are allied to the Force or to the Domination. Since you weren't carrying weapons, we'll take it that you are with the Force." Everyone stared at the creature. "What are you talking about?" asked Sonic, his headache finally fading. "You know!" replied the creature. "Or are you Neutral?" Everyone just stared into space, not sure of what to say. "You must be Neutrals" the creature said at last. "You don't resemble Domination troops, and you certainly don't resemble Force troops. Are you creatures native to this planet?" The odd being seemed undeniably friendly, so Sonic decided to tell the truth. 

"We aren't from this planet" he said. "We're from the planet Mobius. We were teleported here by some guy named Dominatrek." The creature stumbled back. "You mean, you're with the Domination?" Sonic frowned. "We're not 'with' anybody! We were teleported here against our will!" The being seemed relieved. "That's good." he said. "For what reason were you brought here?" Sonic yawned. His headache was gone. "We really don't know" he said. "He didn't tell us." The creature's attention suddenly turned to Streak who was firing tiny zaps and sparks from his finger. "That's AMAZING!" said the being. "Can you all do that?" Sonic shook his head. "We can't do that, but we do all have some kind of power." The creature looked interested. "Such as?" he asked. "Well.." began Sonic. "I can run real fast and spin-dash, Tails can fly, Knux can dig and fight well, Streak shoots lightning bolts, Petals is an athletic martial arts champ, and Amy...well...she's the best at using her brain." Amy smiled at him. The being seemed excited. "We've been looking for someone like you!" he shouted. "How'd you like to help the Force by doing a little spying?" The group didn't know what to say, so they finally agreed. 

Next thing they knew, they were back in the creepy place they started off in, except it was now daylight. They had been told that they were to sneak into the "Domination's" base and find out information. So they were dropped off here and pointed in the direction of the place they were supposed to enter. "Now, how'd we get ourselves into this mess?" asked Knux. Sonic just sighed. Eventually, they approached a giant building in the middle of nowhere. It was really high-tech and had satellite dishes and everything. It looked like NASA. The group sneaked through a small side door. There was surprisingly hardly any security cameras. They got around without being seen, and found a corridor with literally hundreds of doors down the sides. The first door had a sign that said, "WORKER HQ". "Wanna check it out?" asked Sonic. "I guess" replied Knux. Sonic opened the door, and saw something that gave him an enormous shock. 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: RAPTORS 

The door lead to a huge, round room full of computers and scientific apparatus. What was really shocking, though, was that wandering around the room was at least twenty velociraptor, maybe more. One of the dinos saw him and shouted "IT'S THEM! IT'S THEM! SOMEBODY GET SHAX!" Sonic was so startled that he nearly fell over backwards. "WOW!" said Tails at the sight of the dinosaurs. One raptor came out of the shadows and smiled at them. "Welcome!" he said. "I am Shax! I'm so glad you got here! I was waiting." Sonic recognized him, somehow. Of course! When they were trapped in the Anti-Verse, this raptor had helped them escape from a prison cell, and when they were in the Impossible Temple, he had prevented them from being crushed by the moving walls. This beast was obviously a good guy, and had a great determination to make sure they survived. "Who are you, exactly?" asked Sonic. "I am Shax, leader of the dinosaur troops." he answered. "I can tell you exactly what is going on!" Sonic was excited to hear this, as he had not had the slightest idea about what was going on since all this started. "Do tell!" he said. 

"Very well" said Shax. "It all started about a year ago. Dominatrek lived on an open orbited planet (That's a planet that does not orbit a star) and his race was highly advanced. He decided for some reason to take over the universe, I dunno why, and he got the technology to give him great powers, or something. I really don't know much about it until he met me, but I do know that he stole some kind of teleportation device and a huge spaceship from his government, and flew out into space. This teleportation device was the ultimate in technology. Not only could it teleport things back and forth from anywhere in this universe, but it could also send things through time, to the future or the past, and through to any alternate reality. He used it to go back practically to the dawn of time, and then to my planet, Earth, and found that it was swarming with dinosaurs. So then he discovered that the most intelligent and able- to-work dinos were the raptors, so he brought a whole lot of us back to his spaceship and used us as slaves. Then he went on to conquer the universe. But he met up with a race of kind hearted aliens who called themselves 'The Force' and lived on this planet, Nobex 8. They were just as technologically advanced as he was, but they were for the protection of the universe. So war broke out. When Dominatrek realized he was losing, he came up with the bright idea that he would go to the nearest planet with intelligent life, which was Mobius, and hack into the computers to see which are the best fighters and heroes. The computers had detailed information on all of you, which is how he knows so much about you, and so he teleported you up and quickly thought of three quick tests he could put you through to see if you were fit for the job. You have passed these tests, and now he expects you to win this war for him." 

Sonic was fascinated by this story. "And why were you so anxious to meet me?" he asked. "'cos we want you to help us escape!" answered Shax. "You see, we are trapped in this room by invisible bars in the doorway. You guys can move back and forth through them, and so can Dominatrek, but nothing reptilian can pass through them. One of us was able to hack into the computer that maintains the bars, and he made it weak enough for one raptor only to get through. To turn them off completely, you have to get to the main switch. I was able to pass through for a couple of seconds occasionally and jump in the teleporter to help you out of trouble, but I couldn't find the main switch in time. What we want you to do is find the main switch, turn off the bars and let us out so we can use the teleporter to go back to Prehistoric Earth. If you do that for us, I'll show you how to use the teleporter and go back to your home." "You talk too much" said Petals, complaining. "Don't mind her" said Sonic. "We'll do it." 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: DOMINATREK 

The group wandered down the corridor, searching for anything that looked like the main switch for the raptors' power bars. They searched through the entire building, which took a long, long time. Eventually, they came to a huge door. Opening it, they found what seemed to be an office of some kind. There was a giant machine that looked like the main computer, and there, on a small chair, sat none other than Dominatrek himself. He turned around to face them. "Excellent!" he said. "It's about time you got here! Look, the reason you are here is because this planet has been attacked by space pirates, and I need help defeating them." Sonic noticed the wide range of weaponry he had, and decided to play along. "Uh...yeah, ok" he said. "Where do we begin?" 

Dominatrek started talking about where the location of the Force's base was, even though they already knew, from being picked up by them and taken there a couple of hours ago. Dominatrek was going on and on and on, when something caught Sonic's eye. A big, red button on Dominatrek's computer that was labeled "Raptor release button. Not to be pressed except in emergency." Unfortunately, Dominatrek was standing right in front of it, and he was shoving them out the door. When they were outside his office, he went back inside and slammed the door. "We'll have to wait until he comes outside" said Knuckles. They waited just outside the door, hiding behind a huge block of metal. The thing was that he didn't come out. He was there all the time. They had waited the rest of the day, then night fell and they waited another couple of hours until Sonic walked up and put his ear to the door. He could hear snoring from inside. "He's asleep" he whispered to the others. "Now's our chance!" Sonic and Knuckles came up to the door and slowly opened it. Sure enough, Dominatrek was asleep. The two crept up and slowly pressed the button on the computer. There was a soft whirring sound. They crept out of the office, closed the door, and went down the corridor to see if it had worked. 

Eventually, they came to the raptor room. Sonic opened the door. All the lizards were asleep except for Shax, who was still waiting patiently. "Did you do it?" he asked. "Yep" answered Sonic, grinning. Shax went through and woke up all the raptors. Then he got them to follow him. They walked out the doorway, smiling. "Ok, guys, follow me!" he said to the group. They walked to a small room that was lit up with a fluorescent light. There, in the center of the room was a small, red platform attached to a computer. "That's the teleporter!" he said. He turned it on. There was a buzzing, whirring sound as the teleporter lit up. Then there was another sound. An alarm ripped through the building. Shax looked frightened. "He must have hooked up an alarm to this thing!" he yelled. He frantically punched in co-ordinates for the teleporter, then he sent the other raptors through it. They disappeared as they were warped home. Then Shax started to type in something else. The teleporter whirred to life once again. "GO!" he shouted. The six obediently jumped through the teleporter. Then, Dominatrek appeared in the doorway. "YOU!" he shouted when he saw Shax. "Yeah, me" replied Shax. Dominatrek held up a gun at his head. "YOU BETRAY ME FOR THE LAST TIME!" He pulled the trigger. 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: GRAND FINALE 

Sonic suddenly burst through the teleporter again into the small room. He grabbed Shax's tail and yanked him through the teleporter again onto Mobius. The beam from Dominatrek's gun hit the control for the teleporter, blowing it to a million pieces. He let out a wail of terror as his teleporter blew up in his face. 

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Streak, Petals, Amy and Shax sat in the grass back on Mobius. They knew they would be safe from Dominatrek because the teleporter was gone, so it was a good thing, but they also knew that Shax was now stranded on Mobius for the same reason, so it was also a bad thing. "Well" said Shax, "It's for the greater good. And it's not all bad, at least this planet has a lot of forests." Sonic looked at him. "Well, you can stay with us and join the Freedom Fighters!" he offered. Shax thought about it, but then declined. "No, that's not me. I'm a wild creature. I think I'll take off into the forest. Maybe we'll meet again someday!" Sonic began to protest, but then decided that he wouldn't argue if that's what he wanted. Shax thanked him, and jogged off into the trees, out of sight. "Well" began Knux "Let's go home!" Amy looked off to the horizon. "I...I can't stay either." she said. "Why not?" asked Sonic. 

"I'm the leader of quite a large group of Freedom Fighters up north. They need me, I can't just leave them. I hope you understand." Sonic looked very disappointed. Amy walked up and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for everything." she said, and she also walked into the bush. Sonic turned to Streak and Petals. "Well, I guess you're gonna leave, too, huh?" he asked. Streak shook his head. "I'd rather stay here, actually." he said. "Joining the Freedom Fighters might be a nice change" Sonic smiled. "How about you, Petals?" Petals stood there with her arms folded, and then she actually smiled for the first time since Sonic met her. "I guess I might as well." she said. 

So That's the story of how I first met Sonic. I was taken from my home and ended up millions of years in the future on the lonely planet Mobius. But enough about me, Streak and Petals joined the Freedom Fighters, Knuckles returned to the Floating Island, and everyone enjoyed listening to Sonic and Tails tell this story, which has now come to... 

THE END 

SERIES ONE CHRONOLOGY:   
1. Time and Space   
2. I Am Your Evil Twin   
3. Micro-Sonic   
4. Android Wars   
5. Chaos   
6. Diary of a Mad Assassin   
7. Fire in the Sky   
8. The Guests of Honor   
9. Time and Punishment   
10. The Secret Past   
11. Tale of a Rocket Knight   
12. Cyber Sonic   
13. Apocalypse

   [1]: http://www.stas.net/1/shax/Virtualden.html
   [2]: mailto:Shaxr@angelfire.com



End file.
